IRS’ help requested in lottery theft probe

Saturday, February 9, 2013

— The Internal Revenue Service has joined an Arkansas State Police investigation into a theft within the Arkansas state lottery, a spokesman for the state police said Friday.

The spokesman, Bill Sadler, declined to say why the state police asked the IRS to join the investigation.

Last October, lottery spokesman Julie Baldridge said lottery Director Bishop Woosley requested that the state police investigate the theft of lottery tickets, but she declined to say whether the investigation would involve any lottery employees.

So far, Woosley has declined to comment in response to questions about the investigation, including whether several hundred thousand dollars worth of lottery tickets are suspected of being stolen, and whether any employees are suspected.

When asked why the IRS joined the investigation, a spokesman for the federal agency said Friday that he couldn’t confirm or deny the existence of any such an investigation.

Arkansas, Pages 14 on 02/09/2013